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Field Rep Voices: Team Elias, Meaghan, Raleigh, Sydney and Wahab

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For the short attention spanned millennials out there, here is a haiku describing our day:

Put tanks near water
Changed the location once
Now we are Sweaty

Women working with orange drums in original location

For everyone else, here is the fun story of our day:

On Saturday, June 3rd, we, Team Wahab enjoyed our 3rd day in the village of Sahani. Our goal for the day was to choose a location for the water business and to put the Polytank stand and three plastic water drums in place. Going in to the day we expected the task to be quick and simple, but such was not the case….

 

The original dugout location

Even though it had rained the previous night, the original dugout was extremely low and it would have been tough to fill 3 orange drums with water. Our first solution was to fill 2 drums with dugout water and the third drum with water from the borehole. The borehole water was salty, but we hoped that diluting the water and adding the aqua tablets would lower the salt content.

The larger dugout

After talking with the children they showed Elias and Wahab a much larger dugout that was slightly further away, but had a good amount of water left in it. We were able to convince the women running the business that the walk would be worth it and they wouldn’t need to use any of the salty borehole water. An impromptu parade of community members of all ages helped us move the equipment to the new location.

The children we try to keep entertained

Over the next hour some of us attempted to balance buckets on our head to help fill the orange drums. Some of our team was in charge of keeping the kids entertained. Duck duck goose was a favorite, as well as follow the leader.

Filling the orange drums

Once the orange drums were filled, we added the alum to the chocolate milk colored water and watched in amazement as the sediment began to floc. We closed and locked the drums to let them sit overnight so the sediment could filter out.

The dugout water

The day was concluded by another village wide procession back through path in the forest and though fields back to the village. The chief’s wife informed us that they thought our names were to hard to remember so they came up with our village names on the spot: Raleigh – “Roakayo”, Sydney – “Sedina”, Meagan – “MaMuna”, and Elias – “Eelisu.” We accepted our names and exchanged farewell formalities with the chief of the village and went on our way – Din Nuna

Field Rep Voices: Team Ashley, Lizzy, Stew, Taufik and Taylor

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Our first visit to Nekpanzoo was really exciting! We visited their river and 8 wells that they use for their water sources and took some samples. When we met with the chief of the village, we brought him cola nuts and passed them around. After pitching our idea of building a water purification center for people in his community, the chief was ecstatic to work with us. Our translator Taufik told us the chief was so thankful for us going to Nekpanzoo and that tomorrow we can have a community meeting where three women will be selected to learn how to purify the water, run, and own their own business within the village. The chief was so thankful he decided to give us a chicken as a gift. I thought the entire experience of meeting with the chief was really awesome. It was cool to be part of this cultural experience and hear the excitement of the chief and elders. Our team is looking forward to making a positive impact on Nekpanzoo! – Ashley Stein

Ashley holding the gifted chicken presented to our team

 

Coming into the village we introduced ourselves and greeted the Chief, asking permission to look at the village’s water sources. The Chief’s son Mohammed took us to see the river and we drove over a mile from the town to the water’s edge. The landscape was strikingly beautiful, green and lush, with a pale uneven ground that rose and fell with swirling patterns in the dirt. We climbed the gently rolling hills, taking in the greenery and bushes that lined the river, like something from a documentary. I listened to Mohammed explain how far the river would rise in the rainy season as he pointed to a branch on a tree that was above my head and gestured with his hands to the beginning of the dirt road we had driven down. I realized I was standing in a flood plain. A local fisherman cast his net into the river, pulling it out expertly and taking out fish. He placed his fish in a bucket and then went into the river to swim after his dinner. Mohammed took us on a tour of the village. We walked past the broken covered pump well that only had salty water when working and past the school to the center of town. There was a large pit in the ground open and only somewhat lined with porous rocks. Stew climbed down to gather a sample from the smallest puddle at the bottom. We continued on throughout the village to see the other 6 wells in the town, some protected with concrete, some small pits in the ground outlined with wood or tires, all mostly dry with a small amount of very brown water at the bottom. At the end of the tour, between our observations of the mostly dry wells and the mile wide flood plain we knew we were about to face challenges when deciding on the best location for the Saha clean water center. – Lizzy Merin

Lizzy standing by the river

We arrived in Nekpanzoo prepared to determine the viability of a water treatment center, depending upon water availability and community interest. Unfortunately, as we explored various different sources of water throughout the village, it became apparent that locating a functional site for the center could prove challenging. The Chief’s son explained to us that in the dry season villagers mainly gathered water from a local stream. However, when the rains came, they would flood the area around the river for a mile, but until that happened the wells in the village would remain mostly empty. The center is mobile, but timing would prove tricky. Fortunately, I was greatly encouraged by our meeting with the village Chief. After we explained our mission and plans for Nekpanzoo’s water, he responded enthusiastically. Despite the obvious challenges, he recognized the importance of enriching health within his community. Upon leaving the village, I felt confident that our team’s dedication to providing clean water, matched by the village’s hope for a healthier, happier way of living, could surmount any obstacles we encountered. – Stewart Coard

Stew taking a sample of the well water

Looking back on all we were able to accomplish on our first visit to Nekpanzoo, I am overwhelmed with immense feelings of joy and excitement for our upcoming work with the community and the eventual installment of our water treatment center! The most thrilling part of the day came to me moments before entering the Chief’s palace. I had been selected by my team to be the one member to “pitch” Saha’s mission to the elders, an honor I was I more than a little enthusiastic to accept! It was during those few adrenaline-filled seconds when I was removing my sandals and ducking my head to enter the mud hut, that the true gravity of what we were there to do sunk in. All morning we had been going around and taking unclean samples from the community’s water sources. Along the way we passed by homes where people had drums filled with dirty water, water they had specifically set aside to drink. There was no alternative drinking option, no clean water source for them to pull from – dirty drinking water was simply their reality. But luckily that reality was one they would soon no longer have to embrace, because our Saha team had arrived to share great news. After the formal greetings of welcome were exchanged in our meeting, I was finally able to share this life changing opportunity: “We are from Saha Global, we’re here to bring clean drinking water to Nekpanzoo!” – Taylor Gorycki

Taufik, Ashley and Taylor in the meeting with the Chief
Ashley, Mohammed, Taylor and Taufik walking through the floodplain

Field Rep Voices: Team Alex, Amanda, Peter, Zach and Zijun

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With this post, we’re kicking off our “Field Rep Voices” segment for summer 17! What better way to keep you up to date with the progress of our 10 new water business implementations then to hear from our Field Reps themselves? Over the next few weeks, you’ll have the chance to hear from each team about the challenges and successes of all our new business. So without further ado, take it away, Team Peter!

It was a hot one, with the temperature reaching nearly 100 degrees. The cab ride is always an interesting experience, with four of us (all over 5’7) melting together in the backseat – truly living up to our team name, Team Sweat, also known in Dagbani as Team Wolgu. Upon our arrival in the village, the whole community was waiting for us. Suri, a small village of only twenty households, is a beautiful and quiet community. Our community meeting was a success – our women entrepreneurs were announced and many questions were asked. We were excited to see the level of community engagement, with many of the community members answering each other’s questions. Another exciting moment was when a few community members asked if they could purchase additional safe storage containers to have as much clean drinking water in their household as possible.

Our community meeting in Suri!

 

At first, the kids were shy and hesitant to come up to us, but they’re beginning to warm up. While we were painting the Polytank stand, the kids began to make their way toward us, curious as to what we were doing. We were hoping that everyone would go back to their daily tasks after the community meeting, but instead, all eyes were on us as we meticulously painted their stand, hoping that we didn’t miss a spot.

Painting the polytank stand

 

Painting the polytank stand continued!

After we finished painting our stand, we took another trip to the dugout, hoping that we wouldn’t run into any of the crocodiles that we’re told dwell at the bottom. While we were visiting the dugout, we encountered a group of Fulani women for the first time. They were bathing and doing their laundry. We were struck by how distinctly they were dressed, wearing colorful clothing and many pieces of silver jewelry and beads. The Fulani are a semi-nomadic people, who follow their cattle from place to place. They’re often seen as the outsiders by the village people, although they may have lived in a place for fifteen years, making their relationships more complex than it initially appears. Suri has a large population of Fulani and we are looking forward to getting to know them and understanding the dynamic more. Upon our departure from the village, we were treated to a basket of eggs from the chief and a marriage proposal from the linguist, which we politely declined. Twice. We couldn’t be more excited by the response that we received from the people of Suri and we can’t wait to move forward with the water business.

A gift of guinea fowl eggs from the community!

Sincerely,

Team Sweat.

 

Updates From Our Newest Communities

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Hello hello! Morganne and Eda here, sending a report straight from Tamale!

Monitoring has been busy since the end of our Winter Global Leadership Program (shout out to our #sahappytobehere crew!). As you might know, we opened our 100th water business in January, which means 100 villages to get out to and check up on! Here’s the latest from the first 2 months in our newest communities:

 

Village Full-time Monitor How’s it going? Center Status Household Visits Lab Samples
Defisa Amin, he visited on March 31st Jahama and Lukaya said sales are going well, however the dugout is very turbid so they have to use more alum to make sure the water is clean! Polytank is ½ full and the 3 “Blue” Drums were empty 5 out of 6 households had water in their safe storage containers The Polytank sample came out clear!
Juni Wahab, he visited on March 27th The dugout has dried because the rainy season hasn’t started yet. Wahab spoke to Jamila who said sales were going well and the women are ready to treat water as soon as the rains come! PT Empty and 3 “Blue” Drums empty No household visits because the dugout is dry No lab samples were taken this visit.  The polytank was sampled earlier this month and came out clean!
Kpumi Peter, but Shak visited on March 29th while Peter monitored our Salaga communities The water is getting very turbid but sales are still going well! Polytank is more than half full and the 3 “Blue” Drums were empty 4 out of 6 households had water in their safe storage containers No samples were taken this visit. The polytank was sampled earlier this month and came out clean!
Labariga Peter, but Shak visited on March 29th while Peter monitored our Salaga communities Fusheina said sales are going well and they treated water yesterday afternoon! Polytank is more than half full and the 3 “Blue” Drums are empty 4 out of 6 households had water in their safe storage containers No samples were taken this visit. The polytank was sampled earlier this month and came out clean!
Parishenaaya Wahab, he visited on March 30th Salamatu said some farming families have returned to Parishenaaya so sales have picked up a bit! Polytank is more than half full, 3 “Blue” Drums are empty 5 out of 6 households had water in their safe storage containers No samples were taken this visit. The polytank was sampled earlier this month and came out clean!
Tuya Wahab, he visited on March 30th Mohammed, who helps with the center when the women travel, said sales are going well and that the recent rains increased the water level in the stream! Polytank is more than half full, and 3 “Blue” Drums are full but don’t have alum yet 6 out of 6 households had water in their safe storage containers, YAHOO! No samples were taken this visit. The polytank was sampled earlier this month and came out clean!
Zuro Peter, but Shak visited on March 29th while Peter monitored our Salaga communities Abiba said everything is going well! Polytank is ¼ full, and 3 “Blue” Drums are empty 3 out of 6 households had water in their safe storage containers The polytank sample came out clean!

 

 

 

Peter monitors Kpumi’s water center

And our newest solar businesses:

Village Full-time Monitor How’s it going? Center Status Household Visits
Chihigu Peter, but Eric visited on March 28th while Peter monitored our Salaga communities Hawabu said everything is going well! There were 8 phones and 6 batteries charging at the center All 6 households had working and fully charged lanterns, yay!
Jagberin Wahab, he visited on March 27th Ramatu said sales are going well but some farming families have left because their dugout has become very turbid. As soon as the water level increases these families will be back and increase solar sales! There were 15 phones and 8 batteries charging at the center All 6 households had working and fully charged lanterns, wahoo!

 

Eric takes a selfie while monitoring in Chihigu

 

Special thanks to our Winter 2017 Field Reps who got these 9 communities off to a great start! Ti paya pahm!

Water Monitoring Sheet Revisions

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At Saha we’re always adapting our model to better suit each community we work in. To do that we need good data! We’ve been busy updating our monitoring sheets to reflect the current status of each water business. New additions include a ‘last visit’ section (so we always have the previous visit in mind), more questions about savings/prices, and a ‘summary’ section.

 

We’ve started allowing households to fill different containers (besides the safe storage container) at the water center, including garawas and jerrycans. This allows families to skew the ratio of clean water to dugout water in their homes towards more clean water! In our monitoring chats we make sure to talk about how the SSC will always keep water the cleanest for drinking, but a jerrycan with a closed lid is a good backup for cooking, etc. Extra lab samples of these alternative containers is ongoing, and we hope to have data of their safe storage ability soon.

 

Take a look at our latest water monitoring sheet below!

Community Map

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Despa Saha supporters!  We’re really excited to share our latest and greatest village map with all of you! Our old map needed some technology updates before we could get it up here on our blog. We are still working on integrating more up to date information with each community’s tab, such as the names of each entrepreneur, prices for water and solar charging, and other information we get from the most recent visit. We’re also hoping to merge our lab data with the map so you can all see the latest waterquality in polytanks and safe storage containers across all 100 of Saha’s villages. Stay tuned for more updates as we create our interactive village map!

#sahappy2behere – Reflections on the 2017 Winter Global Leadership Program

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It’s crazy to think that less than a week ago we were saying farewell to the 2017 Winter Field Reps. Thanks to this group of awesome, driven individuals, Saha was able to partner with with 9 communities in Northern Ghana to open 7 new water treatment businesses and 2 new solar charging businesses, which provide jobs to 21 new entrepreneurs. 1,664 people now have permanent access to safe drinking water and 752 people have access to reliable, clean solar electricity. Additionally, 5 of our water entrepreneurs have now been trained to run solar businesses, increasing their earning potential!

Alex C, Alex K, Ann, Becky, Caleb, Caroline, Celine, Elijah, Erin, Joanne, Kalin, Kevin, Laura, Lexie, Louis, Matt, Maureen, Micah, Mona-Mae, Morgan, Nikita, Olivia, Qingyi, Sarah, Shaminika, Shane, Shanelle, Shannon, Terynek, Tess, Walker, Wyatt, Yu and Zulean,

We can’t believe that just under a week ago, we packed our bags and loaded up in front of GILLBT for the last time! We are so grateful for the excitement, enthusiasm, hard-work and positivity that you brought to team Saha. Because of you, thousands of people are living their lives with more opportunities for health and happiness. It was such a pleasure to work with all of y’all, and we consider ourselves lucky to count you as part of Sahayili! As you head off to your next impactful adventures, please don’t forget your community and all of us here at Saha, and let us know what we can do to further your missions. 

With gratitude,

Amin, Eda, Eric, Kathryn, Morganne, Peter, Shak & Wahab

And now … for the jumping pics!

Eric, Iddrisu, Erin, Qingyi, Sarah and Shane in Chihigu

 

Elijah, Kalin, Ann and Wahab in Defisa

 

Wyatt, Caleb, Joanne, Shanelle and Shak in Jagberin

 

Celine, Laura, Olivia, Matt, and Nestor in Juni

 

Terynek, Micah, Shannon and Becky in Labariga

 

Morganne, Mona, Simply and Alex in Kpumi

 

Walker, Shamanika, Sita, Lexie and Tess (not shown) in Parishenaaya

 

Louis, Alex, Caroline and Maureen in Tuya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Field Rep Voices: Team Erin, Qing, Shane, Sarah and Eric

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Members of Chihigu gather around the solar charging center for opening night

As we first arrived at the Chihigu Village for opening night, there was an immediate tension in the air, so thick one could cut it with a knife (or a machete ;)). There was an obvious buzz going around the village because tonight was the night that the lights were going to be turned on, thus forever changing the way of life for this community. Even the animals were excited as Despa (Shane’s village puppy) ran after the car as we pulled in; the dog then broke Shane’s heart when he ran immediately up to Qing instead as the team exited the vehicle.
The women were all ready to go -eager, anxious, excited – and the villagers felt the same. We arrived with about half an hour left until kickoff for the light show, so we made the most of our time and began painting the solar charging station. Erin, as always, played some jams on the Bluetooth radio our group brought and the opening ceremony for the lights turned into a party. Adults and children alike were dancing along to the beats while Team Eric and Iddrisu painted the solar charging station. Once 6 PM came around, the women were manned at their station ready for battle! Due to the amount of people ready to purchase batteries for their lanterns, we decided it best to sell them out of the window rather than try and cram all these people into the charging station. Pretty soon the line to purchase the batteries looked like a Chic-Fil-A drive-thru on a Saturday evening (It is closed on Sundays thus making for an even more hectic drive-thru line).

Qing works with the women entrepreneurs on opening night

The women in charge of the charging station didn’t skip a beat! They essentially formed a leadership-powered assembly line as one woman rented out the 3 batteries to a customer, another replaced those batteries on the charger and the third woman tallied the purchase in their notepad. This process continued long into the night until the entire village could successfully use their lanterns! As night settled and the moon rose, it was obvious (and a little scary) how dark things got after the sunset. That was until the villagers began turning on their lanterns for the first time. You could see, one by one, households being lit up and people using their lights as they traversed through the community. It was a remarkable chain of events as you could literally the see difference being made in these peoples’ lives. All the hard work that was put into this project by Team Eric, Saha Global and the community proved to be worthwhile and we know that the village will forever be grateful!

Erin gets all of the kids involved to help paint the center

Field Rep Voices: Team Alex K, Mona Mae, Morgan, and Simply

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Top 5 Experiences on Opening Day

In honor of Saha Global opening it’s 100th water business, here’s a list of five things that were unexpected and simply beautiful for us on opening day in Kpumi.

1. You might be terrified of passing women by on opening day, but keep in the back of your mind that garriwas filed with dugout water serve the purpose of cooking, cleaning among other things.

2. You might be nervous that nobody is going to show up to get water from the center. But hold your horses, when one comes, they all come. The excitement is real. Really real.

3. It’s going to be hectic, no matter how prepared you are. With excitement comes chaos, but it definitely is part of the process. But, never worry! A hectic opening day where everyone wants water at once is a one-time thing.

Safe storage containers lined up and ready to fill!

4. The beauty of seeing the young kids drink the water makes you see how much of an impact the water center can have.

One of the kids in Kpumi enjoys clean water!

5. You can find joy in watching the Fulani and the Dagomba people interact and continue to foster community at the opening of the business.

Kpumi gathers at the water treatment center to get their first taste

 

The excitement is real really real. And the beauty of clean water is unlike no other. Cheers to Saha and their 100 water businesses!